15 councils have been awarded Excellence Wales status in the second awards evening for Welsh local government.
Speaking during the awards evening in Cardiff Bay, Sue Essex AM, Minister for Finance, Local Government and Public services said:
"I am pleased to be here for a second year celebrating the excellent practice that has been exhibited in local authorities all over Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government's investment in the Excellence Wales scheme is paying dividends. Sharing good practice is an essential part of improving public services across Wales and the opportunities offered by Excellence Wales to identify, promote and share good practice amongst local authorities cannot be over estimated.”
Steve Thomas, WLGA Chief Executive added:
“Once again our national awards scheme shows that councils across Wales are achieving the highest level of performance in serving their communities. There are many excellent examples of innovation and good practice in Wales that deserve to be applauded and should be shared across Wales and beyond. Excellence Wales is achieving exactly what it set out to do- recognising and rewarding excellence and sharing learning from innovative good practice.”
Over 200 guests gathered at St David’s Hotel at the event hosted by TV’s Lucy and Rhodri Owen.
51 applications were received from councils and the successful applications were:
Our Older People- supporting an integrated older persons’ service
- Flintshire County Council (Highly Commended)
- Bridgend County Borough Council (Commended)
- Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council (Commended)
- City and County of Swansea (Commended)
Our Council – Leading Our Communities
- Carmarthenshire County Council (Highly Commended)
- Conwy County Borough Council (Commended)
- Flintshire County Council (Commended)
- Gwynedd County Council (Commended)
- Monmouthshire County Council (Commended)
- Newport City Council (Commended)
Our Health- Safe and Healthy living
- Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council (Commended)
- Carmarthenshire County Council (Commended)
- Denbighshire County Council (Commended)
- Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council (Commended)
- City and County of Swansea (Commended)
Our Homes – Affordable, high quality, sustainable homes
- Caerphilly County Borough Council (Commended)
- Cardiff Council (Commended)
- Conwy County Borough Council (Commended)
- Torfaen County Borough Council (Commended)
- Vale of Glamorgan Council (Commended)
As well as the established Highly Commended and Commended categories a new ‘Certificate of Recognition’ was awarded to a number of authorities to commend smaller pockets of good practice that are making a difference to people‘s lives across Wales.
Excellence Wales is about recognising good practice across the range of services councils provide. It aims partly to reward, partly to inspire, but fundamentally to share learning and improve public services across all councils. A series of ‘Learning Exchange’ events will be held throughout the year to share good practice from across Wales. In addition, good practice case studies which capture key challenges and secrets of success are detailed on the website.
For more information contact: Clover Rodrigues